Doro Fixture Site to be demolished, replaced with Apartments/Retail

[Captain Zissou]

No walk is pleasant with a lot of stuff.

You've obviously never been backpacking.

[bl8jaxnative]

No walk is pleasant with a lot of stuff.

You've obviously never been backpacking.

good point! 



That said though, I've never noticed people in grocery stores with back packs.  It would help to carry that stuff.

[Ken_FSU]

I'm glad Jacksonville is at least mixing things up with its historic demolitions.

For Doro, the city is giving firefighters the keys to the buildings and letting them "practice breaking down walls, doors and other structures that they typically wouldn't get to destroy."

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/photo-gallery/see-inside-the-george-doro-fixture-co-building-before-its-demolition#photo-12

Some cool pictures of the interior of Doro before demolition begins in the above link.

Shame Doro District didn't work out. Would have been a fantastic, unique, market-appropriate alternative to Lot J's entertainment components.

With all the foot traffic the area gets before and after events, it's pretty crazy that we couldn't find a way to make Doro work as an entertainment venue. Most cities would kill for this type of historic building stock to repurpose.

[jaxlongtimer]

So, who appreciates our historic structures more, newcomers that have seen successful restorations elsewhere or locals who appreciate growing up with such structures and the history they have lived through?

I note that the Doro is being torn down by out-of-towners but that other historic structures have been restored by newcomers.  Likewise, we have lost a lot of historic structures at the hands of locals.

I am leaning more toward those who have experienced successful restorations elsewhere as more likely to appreciate what we have here  than many locals that have taken our historic buildings for granted as evidenced by how many we have lost under their auspices.

Of course, there are exceptions in both directions so this is just a generalization.  Let the comments rip  .

[vicupstate]

With all the foot traffic the area gets before and after events, it's pretty crazy that we couldn't find a way to make Doro work as an entertainment venue. Most cities would kill for this type of historic building stock to repurpose.

That is true but it is also true that MANY, even MOST cities would not have even allowed the demolition, or at least not a complete demolition. There is nothing really lost in tearing down the smaller buildings but the Randolph Blvd. facing buildings could and should have been saved, or at the very least the 2 story building. The roof of the two story building could have been a great rooftop for a brewery/bar/restaurant. A modest grant from the city for preserving the building could have covered the marginal foundation costs of adding a new floor to the new construction mid-rise. 

Yet one more lost opportunity.     

[thelakelander]

We failed this site like so many others. There were solutions out there that were never fully explored and/or implemented. Hopefully, the recent change with the Downtown historic preservation trust fund and the increase in potential incentives associated with it, will lead to less of these types of demolitions.

[bl8jaxnative]

Denver's massive tearing down of buildings enabled the creation their celebrated 16th street pedestrian mall.   

https://denverite.com/2017/05/17/destruction-rebirth-16th-street-lodo-three-images-skyline-urban-renewal/

[vicupstate]

From the article:

That plan never came to be. Instead, the demolished areas were largely left as blank parking lots, as private developers didn't immediately have the means and motivation to rebuild in the demolition area.

"The result was a huge hole in the heart of Denver," White wrote.

That vacuum would be filled over the next decades with the "Tabor Center, Writer Square, various shiny office towers and surface parking lots," as Infill put it. But it'd be some time before any real residential or retail life returned to the area.

[vicupstate]

From the article:

That plan never came to be. Instead, the demolished areas were largely left as blank parking lots, as private developers didn't immediately have the means and motivation to rebuild in the demolition area.

"The result was a huge hole in the heart of Denver," White wrote.

That vacuum would be filled over the next decades with the "Tabor Center, Writer Square, various shiny office towers and surface parking lots," as Infill put it. But it'd be some time before any real residential or retail life returned to the area.

This scenario played itself out in MANY, MANY cities all over the country of all sizes. Charlotte just to name one. It took many decades to fill the very big, long term void.  Given JAX is already three decades behind other cities in urban redevelopment, MOST vacant lots will remain that way for some time. 

[Captain Zissou]

From the article:

That plan never came to be. Instead, the demolished areas were largely left as blank parking lots, as private developers didn't immediately have the means and motivation to rebuild in the demolition area.

"The result was a huge hole in the heart of Denver," White wrote.

That vacuum would be filled over the next decades with the "Tabor Center, Writer Square, various shiny office towers and surface parking lots," as Infill put it. But it'd be some time before any real residential or retail life returned to the area.

TLDR, but is there an urban planner with the last name "Infill" that was quoted in that article??  AMAZING

[ProjectMaximus]

From the article:

That plan never came to be. Instead, the demolished areas were largely left as blank parking lots, as private developers didn't immediately have the means and motivation to rebuild in the demolition area.

"The result was a huge hole in the heart of Denver," White wrote.

That vacuum would be filled over the next decades with the "Tabor Center, Writer Square, various shiny office towers and surface parking lots," as Infill put it. But it'd be some time before any real residential or retail life returned to the area.

TLDR, but is there an urban planner with the last name "Infill" that was quoted in that article??  AMAZING

I thought the exact same thing. So I looked at the article, and apparently the writer was quoting Denver Infill. WHAT??!?! A planner in Denver named Denver Infill??? No, it was just an odd way of referencing a website.

My disappointment is similar to yours.

[bl8jaxnative]

Thanks folks.  I'm so used to Denver Infill that I never caught that sort of reference. 

It's a great site.  Been aorund forever.

[thelakelander]

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/photo-gallery/demolition-begins-at-george-doro-fixture-co-building

[marcuscnelson]

The developer has renamed this project RISE Sports Town.

https://www.jaxdailyrecord.com/article/rise-a-real-estate-company-opens-its-new-jacksonville-headquarters

RISE Sports Town, formerly The Doro, at 102 A. Philip Randolph Blvd., is a mixed-used and conventional multifamily building in the Sports Complex.

It is next to 121 Financial Ballpark and VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena and not far from TIAA Bank Field.

Holmes said the $67 million, 247-unit project will be completed in the summer of 2023.

In addition to ground-floor retail space it will provide rooftop views, a pool and green space.